The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for providing telephony over a computer network. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus by which a party can encode a telephone call and notify the receiver of the call of the encoding or decoding technique appropriate for conducting the call.
For a long time individuals have been able to communicate via telephone. Most commonly, this takes the form of transmissions of communications over a network such as a public switch telephone network (PSTN) which provides connectivity between two or more parties. In the classical telephone communication environment the network has its own predefined signaling requirements and the telephones which are connected to the network interface with those requirements.
As communication techniques have expanded it has become desirable to provide telephony over computer networks. One example of such telephony is referred to as Internet telephony, that is, telephony provided over a network which implements the TCPIP, protocols associated with a communications network commonly referred to as the Internet. In fact there is heightened interest in Internet telephony in that there is little or no marginal cost incurred by telephone connections utilizing the Internet. Despite the apparent benefit of providing Internet telephony, it has not as yet become a popular means of communication. One possible reason is that there is a low quality of continuous media over the Internet. Furthermore, the fact that various Internet telephony applications use separate and distinct proprietary encoding schemes and application signaling provides an obstacle to more universal use of the Internet for telephony. Unfortunately, the possibility that two parties desiring to communicate with one another via Internet telephony will in fact be employing two different proprietary encoding schemes is too high to encourage an explosive growth of this communication technique. The field has not been able to overcome the absence of a communication standard whereby respective parties have software applications that more easily communicate with one another. This problem exists even within the Internet itself where there are gateways that enable software based telephony programs to call regular telephones or gateways that allow telephones to call a computer application. In both of these gateway scenarios the problem still arises that the application software encoding techniques are not uniform or standardized or universal and it is difficult to provide an interface that makes Internet telephony a more common communication experience.
It would be beneficial if a technique could be provided that would facilitate telephony over a computer network without requiring a standardization or uniformity of encoding and signaling requirements.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus that facilitate telephony over computer networks. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a first party initiating a call identifies to a second party, the called party, the encoding technique which will be utilized in connection with the processing of the call. This identification can take the form of either transmitting the application that will decode the call or the identification can be constituted by an indirect reference to another source of the encoding/decoding application. In this circumstance the calling party does not have to concern itself with whether the called party has the capability of encoding/decoding in accordance with the technique that is used by the first party. No negotiation of signaling standards is required. Instead, the called party can easily adapt to the signaling requirements of the calling party.
In an alternative embodiment the calling party can send an invitation to the called party to initiate a telephone call via the computer networks. In that circumstance either the calling party or the called party can determine the coding/decoding technique to be employed. For instance, the calling party can either directly or indirectly identify the standard or signaling techniques that it wishes to employ during the course of the telephone call either directly or indirectly as in the first embodiment, or alternatively the called party can define the encoding/decoding technique to be utilized during the course of the telephone call. In the latter circumstance the second party receiving the invitation would initiate the call and then transmit encoding/decoding identification information to the first party. The second party either explicitly defines the application to be utilized or provides an indirect reference which can be used to retrieve the appropriate application so as to conduct the telephone call.
In yet another embodiment of the invention a method is provided by which a computer based telephone instrument can initiate a telephone call to a regular telephone. In this circumstance a tale end hop off (TEHO) gateway translates the call between the computer network and a standard telephony network such as the PSTN. In this circumstance the computer based telephone party informs the TEHO about the telephone application utilized for encoding and decoding. The TEHO either receives the application from the first party or retrieves it based on an indirect reference provided by the first party. At that time the TEHO then can encode and decode the call portion that is transmitted over the computer network between the calling party and the TEHO. The TEHO then operates as a translator between the two networks so that once it has received information from either network it places it in the appropriate format for transmission to the party connected to the other network.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention a regular telephone can initiate a call to a computer based telephone coupled to a computer network. In this circumstance a front end hop on gateway (FEHO) can either inform the called party about the application program which it intends to utilize in connection with the call initiated from a standard telephone to which the FEHO is connected or, alternatively the FEHO can notify the called party that a call connection is desired and can await receipt of a notifier that identifies the telephone application which the called party intends to use in connection with the portion of the call connection between the FEHO and the called party.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will be described in the detailed description that follows.